Wednesday's Big Ten web links: Click, read, enjoy

Wednesday's Big Ten web links: Click, read, enjoy

By Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, 6 years ago

Wanna make your Hump Day more enjoyable? Check out these Big Ten football links. Click, read, enjoy. Yes, it’s really that simple.

A GEOGRAPHIC APPROACH: Should the Big Ten switch to geographical divisions? It’s a question that Pat Harty of the Iowa City Press-Citizen recently asked after the Big Ten announced its 2015-16 football schedules that include some quirks.

Harty is hacked off by the fact Iowa and Wisconsin don’t play annually. He’s also miffed that Iowa and Illinois won’t play for six consecutive seasons and that Iowa and Purdue is a protected rivalry.

Hard to argue with any of the points of Harty, who claims the Big Ten set up its Legends and Leaders format so that Ohio State and Michigan wouldn’t be in the same division. He also asserts the league didn’t want those two powers in the same division with Penn State, which would seemingly create an imbalance of power between divisions.

Harty’s proposal: Divide the schools at the Illinois-Indiana border and call them the East and West Divisions. Brilliantly simplistic. And from an “it makes sense” standpoint, it’s a home run.

A.D. Morgan Burke has some ideas, including the razing of bleachers in the south end zone along with the installation of a new scoreboard on the site. Removal of the bleachers would reduce the capacity of Ross-Ade Stadium to around 56,500. The stadium currently holds 62,500.

My take: Good to see that Bolden will stick it out and continue to battle Matt McGloin and Paul Jones for the quarterback job. Bolden has shown potential at times, but inconsistency has dogged him. He has seven touchdowns and 14 interceptions in his career. Bolden was especially dreadful in Penn State’s bowl game loss to Houston after last season, hitting just 7-of-26 passes with three interceptions. He completed just 39.3 percent of his passes in 2011 as a sophomore with two touchdowns and seven picks.

These Big Ten Network financial figures must look good to SEC, which is reportedly seeking to start its own network http://t.co/pZZbJHBw

My take: This seems like a no-brainer for the SEC, whose own TV network likely would generate revenue on par with the Big Ten Network. Hey, it’s all about generating funds in this day and age. And nothing churns out moolah at a bigger and faster rate than TV. So, it looks like the Big Ten and SEC may soon have something else to compete over.

My take: I hate to leave you all on a down note, but here it is. The former Northwestern quarterback is one of the sport’s good guys. And, we all like to see good guy’s succeed. Persa surely will in the business world. But it would have been fun to have seen him get a crack at succeeding in the NFL.